A Night to Remember
by Sarahbob
Summary: One-shot in which Enjolras completely forgets his own 21st birthday. Luckily his friends have not and they make sure he never forgets this day again.


_(One-shot. Enjolras completely forgets his birthday. Luckily his friends are there to remind him. Hope you like this one. Enjoy!)_

Enjolras woke early that morning. He was still frustrated from the previous few nights, when all the Amis had been distracted and none of them seemed to be paying attention to his speech. It was as if he was speaking to the air and he wasn't used to it. Never had he experienced it before. His friends had always been dedicated to the cause – well, except perhaps for Grantaire. They were always willing to hear what he had to say. Always ready to enlighten him with arguments and ideas.

But not the past few evenings. No. All they did was mutter things under their breath. Casting sneaky looks at him, as if they feared he would notice them not paying attention. Of course he noticed! Even Combeferre was somewhere else with his head. Last night he cracked. He had been furious and had stormed out yelling that he was wasting his time with a bunch of idiotic students who only cared for their own pleasure and comfort. That wasn't fair of course. He knew that. But he was angry. And hurt. Mostly hurt maybe.

But now, he was only frustrated. He didn't look forward to the meeting today. He actually wished he had blown the whole thing off, but there was just too much to do. So many things had to be planned: the next demonstration; the search for new recruits; the finding of a trustworthy print shop. Was he honestly the only one who cared enough?

He shared an apartment with Combeferre, his best and oldest friend of the Amis. Combeferre had come home late last evening. Enjolras knew, for he had still been awake, boiling under his blankets. He pretended to be asleep, fearing he would lose it if Combeferre spoke to him, and luckily the medical student left him alone and went straight to bed.

When Enjolras woke up this morning he glared at the still sleeping form in the bed on the other side of the room. He got up, got dressed and huffed once in annoyance before turning towards the door. Stepping out of the front door, the anger got the best of him and he slammed it shut with all his might, hoping to have successfully woken and scared his friend.

He went straight for the Café, hoping his friends had at least prepared the things he had asked them for. But he was in no such luck. Arriving at Musain, he didn't find the pamphlets he had asked Courfeyrac for; there weren't any brooches he had asked Joly to bring for their next public demonstration; and to his utmost annoyance, his precious red flag was nowhere to be found. Instead, the entire backroom of the Café was a mess. There were chairs everywhere; bottles of alcohol; torn up papers. He even found a shoe and a hat, unmistakably Courfeyracs.

He was successfully fuming at this point. _What on earth has gotten into them!_ The only thing not out of the ordinary was the slumped figure in the corner, surrounded by empty bottles. No longer in control, he stormed over to the drunken cynic and poured the wine of one half-emptied bottle on his face. "What the hell! Apollo, what do you think you're doing?", Grantaire exclaimed, anger evident on his face. The dark-haired man recoiled however when he saw the furious glare Enjolras gave him. __

For a moment he feared the fearless leader was about to hit him, but then the blonde turned abruptly on his heels and stormed out - cursing the stupidity of the world as he went - toward his classes of the day. Grantaire let himself fall back. _Well, at least our plan working,_ he thought, albeit still shocked by Enjolras' rage.

For what Enjolras didn't know, was that for the past few nights, the Amis had been planning to celebrate Enjolras' birthday. Combeferre had told them it was highly unlikely that their leader would even realize his 21st birthday was coming up. Therefore, born out of the pits of Courfeyracs joyous mind, the Amis had come up with a plan.

The last few nights, they had been planning everything, during Enjolras' speeches, for it would only work better if they got their friend as irritated as possible, so that the element of surprise on his birthday would only be bigger. They all agreed it was time for their leader to take a little break. To enjoy himself; to live a little. And since he wouldn't do it himself, his friends would do it for him. Of course they hadn't forgotten about the cause. All the things Enjolras had asked them for were neatly tidied away behind the bar.

Grantaire rose from his corner in the Café and started to clear out the room. They would be needing the space today. After a little while, Combeferre and Courfeyrac entered. "Goodmorning 'Taire, ready for the big day?" Courfeyrac laughed.

Grantaire smiled back. "Enjolras was here earlier. You're plan is surely working. He is beyond irritated. I don't think I've ever seen him this angry. And then I include all the fights we've had."

"Tell me about it", Combeferre mumbled. He didn't like to be the cause of his friends anger, even if it was all one big joke. "He slammed the door so hard this morning, I all but fell out of my bed. I'm glad it's over today."

During the next few hours, the other Amis came in as well. Jehan was outside, keeping watch. They only expected Enjolras late in the afternoon, for he had classes today first, but you never knew. They worked on their plan the entire day. And around four o'clock, they had all gathered in the backroom, waiting for their apparently pissed off leader to arrive.

They didn't have to wait long. Only a little after four they heard boots tramping on the stairs. At first they were met with a pair of eruptive eyes. Then Enjolras froze; his eyes wide and confused. He looked around the room in shock. All chairs had been put away. All but one, which stood in the middle in front of some sort of stage made with tables. On the bar were multiple bottles of wine, liquor and water as well as a tower of macaroons and other pastries. _What on earth?_

He looked up at all the smiling, happy faces in front of him but didn't understand a thing. Combeferre shook his head smiling. He knew his friend so well. He walked forward, threw his arms around his blond friend and said quietly: "Happy birthday". Then it dawned on him. His birthday! Today was actually his birthday. He felt all his anger flood away and a smile lightened his face. This was the cue for the other Amis to bolt forwards as well to congratulate their friend.

"We've been preparing for days! Combeferre told us you would probably forget all about it, but we wanted to make sure you had a relaxed day and enjoyed yourself for once, so you're going to sit back and do only that for the rest of the entire day and evening", Courfeyrac exclaimed happily.

"I can't believe you actually forgot your own birthday", Jehan muttered while hugging Enjolras tightly. "No one should forget his own birthday!"

Grantaire was the last one of the Amis to come forward. He grinned and offered his hand awkwardly. "What, the drunkard is not giving me a hug?" Enjolras teased. Grantaire laughed and motioned towards himself. "This man is not drunk, not today. My present to you Apollo." Enjolras raised his eyebrows and smiled. He then pulled Grantaire forward in a thankful embrace.

"So, we were told you got pretty angry this morning", Joly said. "Just so you know, that was our intention. We are not actually – and I quote – a bunch of idiotic students who only care for pleasure and comfort."

Enjolras smiled. "I should hope not. I was at a complete loss. I didn't know what to think. You were all acting like Grantaire and to be honest, one Grantaire is quite enough." He winked at Grantaire to let him know he didn't mean it in a bad way. Grantaire only smirked. "So, ehm, I guess this entire set up is meant for something?" he asked, motioning towards the makeshift stage.

"You bet!", Courfeyrac said as he pushed Enjolras towards the chair and forced a glass of wine in his hand. "We have prepared a little play. Or sketch. Or something amazing anyway."

And it was amazing according to Enjolras. Surely they weren't talented actors, but he absolutely loved it. It was a one hour long parody of the French Revolution in which Grantaire played King Louis XVI, Courfeyrac was Marie-Antoinette and Combeferre portrayed Robespierre. Jehan, Joly and Bossuet imitated frightening damsels in distress and Feuilly was an intellectual from Poland who had come to take notes. The story was told by Rousseau, played by Bahorel. Even though the Revolution was sacred in Enjolras' eyes and certainly not something to make fun of, he laughed harder than he had in a long time.

The rest of the evening they spent together, drinking, eating and singing. They played games; they laughed and they made sure Enjolras was having fun. And he was. He enjoyed himself more than he ever had and even let Grantaire convince him into taking some shots, which he would regret in the morning. No one mentioned the cause. Even Enjolras managed to let it rest. If only for one night. Although it never completely left his mind.

When he and Combeferre were walking back to their apartment late that night, Enjolras – a little tipsy - suddenly pulled his friend in a tight hug. "Thank you so much", he whispered.

The end.


End file.
